Stirling Albion 2023/24 end-of-season report: the reasons why it all went wrong

As the line-up for next season’s League Two is finalised with the confirmation of Stranraer and Spartans’ places in the division, the attention of Stirling Albion fans is quickly turning to a bounce-back season.

It’s set to be a busy pre-season at Forthbank, with applications for the new Stirling boss set to close this week after Darren Young’s departure – with the incoming manager then having the job of putting together a competitive squad.

With the Binos’ disappointing League One campaign moving into the rear-view mirror, the Observer has taken a deeper look into the campaign for a ‘post-mortem’ on Albion’s season - where it all went wrong as they suffered a disappointing relegation.

TOO FEW GOALS

Probably the most obvious reason for Stirling’s poor season comes with their lack of sharpness in front of goal.

The Binos scored just 39 times in their 36 fixtures – with only bottom sides Livingston, Arbroath, Edinburgh City and Stranraer having netted fewer across Scotland’s four divisions.

Dale Carrick once again took top league goalscorer honours, but found the net only nine times, with Josh Cooper and late arrival Josh McPake next on the goalscoring charts with just six and four respectively.

The early part of the season saw the Binos stingy defence allow enough opportunities for Stirling to nick some valuable results, but the pressure proved too much as the deficiencies in front of goal and profligacy with chances eventually proved fatal.

It was possibly most harshly demonstrated in the season’s 36th game at home to Annan Athletic, where Stirling battered down the door with multiple chances in a dominant second half, but couldn’t find the goal which would have retained their third-tier status.

The arrival of